Overall, it’s been a successful launch. To date, I’ve sold 25 books, a mix of eBooks and paperbacks, all sold via Amazon. I’m using Amazon’s “Select” programme for the coming 90 days, so I’m bound to not publishing elsewhere until then. The book is, however, available for pre-order on several other channels.

Can I call myself a writer now?

I’ve often found myself considering the boundaries of when one can declare oneself a “writer.” I’ve seen plenty of rubbish memes on social media saying things along the lines of “the moment you put pen to paper, you’re a writer, baby.” But I don’t buy that. I’m not a writer if I send a company an email. I’m not a writer if I send a postcard.

In my view, being acknowledged as a writer by someone I don’t know, without marketing being the primary factor, is what validates the title. For instance, if someone were to approach me about my work without solicitation, that would be a solid indication that I am indeed a writer. Similarly, once I’m over the current promotion phase for Glitter Buckets, those extra sales would also validate the use of the title. For what it’s worth, I do consider myself a writer. It’s a badge I wear with honour and humility. I’m proud of myself and my writing.

Pre-order

As previously discussed, choosing a four-week pre-order window was simply too long given my current position. All it did was prevent me from fully engaging with the act of promotion, since in my mind I knew that the promotion itself was something of a sham. In my head, “Please pre-order a book so you can enjoy the idea of having it at some point in the future” is a difficult sell. Sure, if the item is anticipated, then I can see the value, but when no one has ever heard of this “Paul London” guy, then what is it that I’m really selling? Or, rather, what is it that they’re really buying? It’s a promise, and one whose truth can’t be evaluated until some time later.

Promotions and marketing

I’ve never been particularly skilled at marketing, and to be honest, I tend to be quite humble and private about my work. In fact, only a select few of my closest friends and family members know about my book or that I identify as a writer. As a result, promotion has been a crucial aspect of my book launch. I’ve attempted a limited amount of posting on Facebook and Twitter. I believe TikTok is an up-and-coming marketing medium, but that’s not something that appeals. For privacy reasons, YouTube doesn’t quite hit the mark for me, either.

With Facebook and Twitter, I’m tending towards the “one post per day” philosophy. It feels a little strange, since all I’m doing is echoing “Buy now” messages.

What is even stranger, though, and what I don’t really pretend to understand, is that most of my social media posts appear to be falling into an echo chamber. And when I examine other writers and their posts, I believe they are doing the same. Most of what I see is writers following each other, all promoting to one another, and rarely to (as far as I can see) readers. I’m not convinced, to be honest, that this form of “free” marketing is useful. I can see the benefits if you’re an established personality, but not as a nobody. And I am certainly that.

Having said that, I did pay for a few Facebook ads (pre-launch) and Twitter ads. They were reasonably successful but a little muted. Again, I think the issue here was not having a product that customers could actually buy, but only pre-order. I will try some ads again on Facebook in particular.

I elected to use BookBub’s “New Releases for Less” promotional tool, in which Glitter Buckets received a placement on one of their promotional newsletters. So far, this has been reasonably successful, but I think I am unlikely to gain more than the cost of the ad.

I am also attempting to launch some ads with Kindle. We’ll see how that goes. I’m not expecting good things, from what I hear.

Costs

My costs for this book have been its cover design, various pre-sale Facebook and Twitter ads, and a BookBub promotion. I won’t go into exact numbers here, but let’s just say that I’ll have to sell around five hundred copies of the book to break even so far, and I’m still likely to run some more advertising in the near future. To be clear, I don’t see these costs as sunk; they are a means to an end, essentially promoting a brand (me), and I also don’t feel that the costs or sales define the success or otherwise of myself or the book.

Sales

So, twenty-five books sold. I’ll take that. It’s a decent start in its first week on sale from an unknown author, though I can account for around six of those from the few people I have told about the book. Over the next few days, I expect the Amazon ads to kick in, which should hopefully gain me another half dozen, but I’m not expecting much more than that.

I feel somewhat vindicated that the book is worth reading, at least based on its blurb. I’ll continue to add more to the blog as and when I have more to say.

I’m writing this blog post like a diary to record my thoughts on the final run-up. I set up the book with a “pre-order period” to give myself some time to create buzz with social media posts. I wanted to do a daily post, but I ran out of steam quickly. I should have been more business-like and made multiple posts, but as with all good ideas my initial keenness waned, and I found days going by without enough push. Next time I’ll give myself a shorter lead-in to the publication date. You live, and you learn, I would suggest.

Even so, I accidentally published the paperback version early. I thought I had read on Amazon’s KDP pages that it would be linked with the eBook and be attached to its publication date. No real harm done, but it’s of note that nobody has bought it in the two weeks it’s been out, which makes me a little sad.

Switching from creative writing to marketing can be a challenge, but I’m proud of this book, and I hope it helps me break through my own barriers. I am no self-marketer, I can tell you that much. It’s been a long month, and despite my social media posts, I don’t have high hopes for sales. But I’ll keep pushing. After the release, I have a BookBub promotion that could boost sales and get me more reviews. Who knows?

When KDP’s Select program’s exclusivity period ends, I need to make sure the book is set up on other platforms, like I did with “Given Time”. I seem to recall setting up on Play Books, and Kobo. Things may have changed in the intervening years.

So — it’ll soon be four days to go, then three. Time will skip over 48 hours just for me, I’m sure, and then it’ll be publication day. I’m excited, and I can’t wait to shout about it!

To be honest, marketing is not my strong suit. I did look into hiring a marketing firm to handle it, but the options I found were either too expensive or I just didn’t trust them not to take my money and do the bare minimum. So, I’m doing my best with Twitter and Facebook. I’m not really into Instagram or TikTok, and while I’ve considered making YouTube videos, I’m a private person and don’t want to be all over the internet. That might seem pretty naïve of me, and if so, I’ll take the criticism. I’ve tried my best, given the tools I have available within myself. I’ve boosted a few social media posts, which have gotten some decent returns, but so far, they haven’t translated into pre-orders or newsletter sign-ups. Apparently, newsletter sign-ups are a big deal in the self-publishing community, but I currently have zero. I’m pushing a little harder to see if I can get some traction. It’s interesting — newsletters to me are like having a website guestbook used to be. I thought they’d died a death, but apparently not.

I’m excited to finally get my book out there! Not least so I can finally talk about it in the present tense. Know what I mean? In the meantime, I’m keeping an eye out for other opportunities to promote it. Hopefully, I’ll have some good news to share soon!

Writing a full-length novel is something I have done three times now. To some, that might seem like a lot, while to others, it might seem like nothing at all. However, let me tell you, writing full novels is a tough chore, and “chore” is not an uncharitable word. It’s why so many people start but do not finish. I imagine the reasons for not finishing are many and varied. But let’s dive into my own experiences and explore why the writing process is so long and sometimes incredibly difficult.

Writing is a lengthy task.

The most apparent thing to note is that writing 60,000 to 120,000 words (depending on your novel’s genre) is already an arduous task. At a pace of around 1,500 words per day, you need to write solidly for 40 days to produce a 60,000 page first draft. The National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenges you to generate a novel within 30 days. It’s doable, but you can already see that it’s not straightforward. If 1,500 words seem relatively trifling to you, then I tip my hat. For me, it wasn’t something I actively monitored, but it’s definitely something that I would be happy to have at the back of my mind every writing moment.

If you’re someone who demands that number of words from yourself, I can see how it might help to have a target. But with targets come the possibility of failure.

Fortunately, I never worked that way. But I also rarely put myself in a situation where that was even a concern. I subscribe to something similar to the “snowflake method” (https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/), but with distinct variations. To begin with, I generate a long-form document with a full synopsis of the story. Character elements, jokes, and scenes – most of which would not become part of the synopsis – but I’d add them to separate documents. This generates a document of somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 words, from which I then split the bulk into ordered chapters and then scenes in a better app than Word (e.g. Scrivener or yWriter) and monkey around with them until I’m happy. From that, I build the text, usually in chronological order, but I definitely bounce around.

I have multiple novels in this split/snowflake-type format, all ready to work on. It helps with motivation, and it helps define the piece before I start. However, I would say that I still don’t believe I have a “first draft” until the whole thing is done and at least 50,000 words.

Writing is hard.

Boy oh boy, is writing actually difficult. That’s definitely not a question. What I think is probably hard for non-writers to understand is that what you produce in your first run-through is absolutely not fit for purpose. You may be an excellent and experienced writer and find that all your preparation has given you an immediate end result that simply needs fine-tuning. I am not that writer. My first drafts are broad-strokes as planned, but missing so many fine details that make the plot actually work as a written piece.

Drafts are a key part of writing ANYTHING, and there is a lot of information about how many version-numbered drafts you ought to generate per written piece. Personally, I don’t stick to those. I figure I probably have two drafts: the first being my expanded snowflake-a-like piece, the second being a fully-fledged piece of work.

However, it all depends on your definition of a draft. I then go through a pretty hefty series of content edits. I also can’t help myself but line edit. It’s bad, and it’s stupid at that stage, but it’s so difficult to ignore syntax problems.

Editing is even harder.

Line edits are the absolute bane of my existence. I am also rather poor and do not have the funds readily available to hire an editor for every project. I have done so in the past and found it incredibly worthwhile – not least for those times when your beta-reader (or friend or family member) who considers themselves highly competent at editing smugly tells you that you’ve done something wrong. Following a professional edit, I feel fairly strongly that you can just tell them to go to hell. Not really, of course – you’re much too pleasant for that. But boy, is it tempting. Can I address this to people who are like that: if you see a typo, it’s a typo. Not an error or a spelling mistake. A typo. You didn’t like the character because he has brown hair, and you read somewhere that this is a symbol of a gaslighter? Go directly to hell. Do not pass Go.

Proofreading is mind-blowing.

And then, when you think you’re done with your edit, you’re ready to read the thing through.

I read my latest novel approximately 20 times. I listened to it (courtesy of amazing AI screen-readers) four times – all the way through.

If you think you hate your novel after you’re done with line edits, just wait until you’ve experienced it more than two dozen times. It’s a killer.

Writing is a mind game.

It really is all in the mind. You carry your book with you constantly, and especially during the proofreading stage, you become absolutely at one with it. You’ll doubt the position of every word and the cadence of each sentence. If you allow it, it will hurt you.

But don’t let it. If it’s good, you’ll know it. If it’s bad, move on. Writing is a mind game, but you have put in so much work. Well done. Now let it breathe.

I’m sure the details of all that will come up over and over, but I’m going to stop there and let it breathe like a good decanted wine, while leaving here a little quote from the first few pages of the novel.

A lot of me has gone into this book and I’m super excited to share it with the world. I’ll post a few further excerpts, some of the funnier bits of wit, the characters, and a few more pieces that I’m really proud of.

I am a terrible marketer. I mean, seriously lousy. I’ve been surrounded by it most of my working life, and it’s one of those elements that I really can’t bring myself to get any better at. It’s an evil art that’s been hexed to look gorgeous. I bend at the knee for those who are good at this sort of thing (though you’ll have to give me a minute to get back up; cartilage).

I am also the absolute worst at shouting my own praises. If I could pay someone to do the publishing elements, I absolutely would, and I say that knowing I run the risk of alienating you, dear reader, who might consider that this confession is akin to saying “You’re all bags of meat, and I would gladly treat you with disdain.” But it’s nothing personal, honestly. I will, in later entries, describe why this book hasn’t even gone through the chances of being picked up by traditional publishing.*

But I’m here now. I’ve written a Facebook post. I’ve created a tweet. I am strongly considering getting myself a tall coffee and publishing some new rather twee and inconsequential “tidbit” from the book to tantalize the… let me count them… ZERO readers and subscribers I have. Do not get me wrong — this is the start, and it’s a start I mean to continue. But boy oh boy, do I hope I don’t stuff this up.

“Glitter Buckets & Spades” is an amazing novel. It’s fun, it’s witty, it’s got a lot of love wrapped up within it, and I’m desperate for you to read it. Please do. It’s smashing.

XXX

*Note that I make no suggestions that those efforts might be successful.

To be honest, I’ve never been that into blogging. It feels a bit “ego related”, and I haven’t a clue if it’s going to help me. But today marks a new start, a chance to do things differently. “Given Time” was a joy to write, even though it’s not the most joyous of material. But it has heart, and a few wisecracks. I’m sad that it didn’t get the love it deserved, and I know that’s down to me.

Let me give you an example of where I went wrong. Apart from thinking I could probably afford a hundred or so every month for advertising costs, I didn’t promote it enough in any serious sense, and ended up doing neither. Looking back, I realise I missed an opportunity to connect with potential readers and share my passion for the story.

Moving forward, I’m gonna try to embrace blogging with a more positive outlook. I ain’t sure if it serves a purpose, but it might be a good way to share my experiences and insights with others. Hopefully, my posts will be interesting, informative, and maybe even a bit entertaining.

Well, the primary job for anyone looking to self-publish a book is almost certainly to get it onto Amazon. I uploaded my e-book and created a paperback version, ready for print. That’s neat. I like that.

I’ve also generated a copy on the Google Play Store and Kobo. I am yet to do Apple Books (because it requires Apple hardware to generate a book in the correct format) or B&N (because they require a feed of some kind. I forget the details).

Pricing in each case was a matter of keeping it as low as possible. I aim to do a ‘free book’ promotion using Amazon in the coming days. But first, let’s take a breather.

I started my marketing campaign shortly after making sure the books were ready to be sold. Current advertising platforms for my novel are: Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon’s own advertising. Today I’ve spent around £50, in the knowledge that I intend to drop this dramatically over the next 48 hours. My intention is to generate data at this point, and from there I can hone and cut my spending. At this point I’ll probably drop one or more advertising platforms altogether, as well as reducing the per-day budget that I’m willing to use to promote my book. In the end I can afford only a few GBP per day. And some months I’ll struggle to put aside that much.

So what have I seen from all this activity? Well, there were a few hours today in which I refreshed the various analytics and data screens in hope of seeing some good progress. But the truth is that without a bigger budget, or more publicity available to me, it was always unlikely that I’d see much. I’ve learned from the process, for sure. And that’s been hugely beneficial.

But! The good news! I have taken 1 sale. Yes, 1 sale. Dramatic, huh? But I’m not dissatisfied with that. I’ve seen good click through rates on the ads I’ve set up, so I know the premise of the book is somewhat interesting. I feel positive for the future.

What’s next? Well, I’m lucky enough to have a few hundred people on a mailing list that I can contact. I also have a number of websites in which I can post my own advertising. Fingers crossed I’ll see more traffic from that. And hopefully some more sales. I strongly believe that books are viral beasts. With some low levels of purchases will hopefully come reviews, and with reviews hopefully a mini-snowball effect.

Until then I’ll keep thinking about things. All while writing the next book.

There’s still a stigma, I feel, attached to self-publishing. Perhaps that’s because people have a limited view of what self-publishing means. Talking to colleagues and friends over the years, there’s a definite sense that Amazon’s approach (in particular) to eBook publishing has encouraged the market to fill with junk. By transitive property, it is understood that anyone unable or unwilling to find a traditional publisher is therefore part of that junkyard.

But that opinion is a little unfair — or, maybe, is just the result of a misunderstanding. Self-publishing doesn’t automatically mean “uploading a hastily generated PDF and clicking ‘Go’”. It really isn’t — I promise!

Self-publishing ought to mean the same as traditional publishing. Make sure you have a good product; make sure it’s something people want; make sure they get to see it. By self-publishing, all you’re doing is taking care of those things yourself. That’s it!

That said, of course there are trade-offs — most of them are predicated on finances. You are unlikely to be as good at the elements of publishing as a professional would be in each area. You are unlikely to be instantly excellent at typesetting, or proofreading. But this is where people who hear the term “self-publishing” go wrong — the publisher rarely does those things themselves, either. The publisher tends to hire folk — from the same pool of professionals as are available to any self-publisher. As a self-published writer, you need to be prepared to pay for these things, or do a damn good job at them yourself. If you rush through or ignore any stage of preparation, then you’ll have a rushed product.

I’ve paid for profesional services during the creation of Given Time. It has, I admit, been expensive for someone who doesn’t have a lot of disposable income. But I’m hoping that the money spent this time around will mean two things:

1. I have a great product.
2. Next book down the line I’ll be handing across a better product to begin with, and reduce the cost that way.

I’m hopeful that with Given Time I can now deal with the rest of the self-publishing duties by myself. Cover design and marketing are all things I’ve dealt with during my day job, and I’m hoping to have a decent crack at them. I make no bones about the fact that a professional would be a better job than I will. But it’s a question of price versus value. I believe, at this point, that my best will be just about good enough to raise my efforts beyond the “junk” that I earlier mentioned.

So, I am excited. But also nervous. The feeling in my bones is that I’ll manage to do things reasonably well. And, for all that, it may all make no difference to have successful the book is. What I have to cling to is the knowledge that I have done my best.

Thanks ever so much for being here. I have a lot to share and hope to do so over the coming weeks and months. I won’t say ‘years’ because everyone knows that blogs are built to die — like terrible hybrid pets. No gibbonpigs for me, please.

I’ll be promoting my upcoming novel, Given Time, very shortly. In the meantime please join my mailing list and I’ll inundate you with very little of substance as soon as I can.

Thanks for all your support!

Paul.